MIAMI — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday called for a new law to protect sexual harassment victims and voiced support for the Senate aide who said in a sworn complaint that influential state Sen. Jack Latvala groped her and made degrading comments about her body.

“Yesterday, I was astonished to learn that one of the victims of the recent allegations in Tallahassee is a woman who I’ve known and respected for years,” Bondi said in a written statement to POLITICO that conspicuously omitted the names Latvala and his accuser, Rachel Perrin Rogers, a fellow Republican and aide to the chamber’s GOP leader.

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“My heart breaks for her. We must respect the investigation by the Florida Senate and the privacy of all parties involved,” Bondi said.

Bondi didn’t specify the nature of the legislation she seeks but said that the chairwoman of the Rules Committee handling the complaint against Latvala, state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-Fort Myers), and House Speaker Richard Corcoran support the concept of strengthening the law to protect sexual harassment victims.

“I look forward to working with the Legislature this Session to formulate laws that protect all women working in state government. It has been remarkable what women can do when we all stand together,” Bondi wrote before writing in all caps: “FLORIDA MUST BE A LEADER IN THIS MOVEMENT.”

For Corcoran — who might run against Latvala to replace the term-limited Gov. Rick Scott — the Florida Senate needs to lead by example. He called for Latvala’s resignation as soon as POLITICO first reported Nov. 3 that six women who work in the Florida Capitol anonymously accused Latvala of sexual harassment. A third Republican running for governor, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, said “anyone who has behaved the way these victims have described should be removed from office immediately.”

Of the six women who anonymously accused Latvala, Perrin Rogers has been the only to come forward publicly because, she said, she was effectively outed by Latvala and his legal team in an intimidation campaign. They began to target her husband and tried to out her in a whisper campaign that included trying to plant stories in friendly local media outlets about chummy text messages she once sent to the senator, who was the chamber’s powerful budget chairman until he was removed from the post amid the sexual-harassment investigation.

Latvala is running to succeed the term-limited Gov. Rick Scott. The governor on Thursday called the allegations “absolutely disgusting” and said Latvala was a “distraction." Latvala has denied the allegations against him and claimed they are politically motivated.

He fired back at the governor on Twitter by invoking Scott's criminal defense in a record Medicare fraud case against the governor's former hospital company, Columbia/HCA: “I'm sure HCA stockholders thought your efforts to defend yourself in theft of billions from taxpayers was a distraction but you had a right to defend yourself! I have that same right!”

Scott didn’t reply but spoke positively about Perrin Rogers and her husband, former Scott spokesman Brian Hughes, whom Latvala has falsely said is working for another candidate for governor.

“Brian Hughes worked for me. I can only say my experience with him is positive,” Scott said. “My experience with his wife has been very positive. When I’ve been around her, she has been a wonderful lady.”

In her statement on Friday, Bondi said she hoped other women would speak out.

“I encourage any woman who has been sexually harassed to come forward and allow their voice to be heard,” Bondi said.

But one of the anonymous accusers told POLITICO she won’t step forward in light of Latvala’s aggressive defense and its attempted “character assassination” of Perrin Rogers and her husband.